How To Make A Pumpkin Bong

Pumpkins. The ubiquitous autumnal gourd. Sure, you could carve one out to make a spooky jack-o’-lantern. You could dry and roast the seeds for a flavorful snack. Or you could even process the guts to make the filling for a delicious pumpkin pie. But truly, the most ghoulishly awesome thing you could do with your gourd this Halloween is to carve it into a super-scary pumpkin bong. Here’s how.

How To Carve A Pumpkin Bong

There are a few variations on a theme here, so let’s begin with the basics. If you have any experience making a bong out of an apple, you already know everything you need to know about making a pumpkin bong.

First, grab your supplies. Here’s what you’ll need:

A drill with a large and small drill bit. (You can use a skewer or screwdriver if you don’t have a drill.)

A small, or, if you’re feeling ambitious, medium-sized pumpkin.

For a more professional touch, use the down-stem from your glass bong if you have one handy.

Making A Pumpkin Bong: Step By Step

Follow these steps to set yourself up with a wicked Halloween smoking device. Pumpkin bongs are easy, fun and eco-friendly. Alright ghouls and goblins, here we go.

Step 1: To Gut Or Not To Gut?

Even though the center of a pumpkin is filled with slimy innards and seeds, the cavity is, for the most part, hollow. Those slimy strands, by the way, are called the “placental tissue.” The pumpkin, after all, is a fruit, which is basically the botanical version of an ovary.

The good news is that making a pumpkin bong doesn’t require you to scoop all the guts out. The smoke will fill the vacant space in the cavity, and the guts will tinge it with a fresh, pumpkin flavor.

Of course, you could try to empty out the guts, making the cavity of your bong much more spacious. But doing so will reduce how air-tight your pumpkin bong will be.

Step 2: Drill, Baby, Drill!

The important point here is to make sure smoke gets from your weed, through the pumpkin, into your mouth. You’ll need two or three apertures in the pumpkin to make this happen.

Variation 1: Carving A Weed Bowl

If you don’t have a glass down-stem, you’ll have to carve the weed bowl into the pumpkin itself. Pick a spot near the top of the pumpkin, so your weed doesn’t fall out.

Then, start carving out a bowl-shaped hole, but don’t break through the meat of the pumpkin. If you do, plug it up and start over.

Once you have a shallow bowl, use a screwdriver, drill bit or skewer to punch a hole through the pumpkin into the hollow center cavity. The hole you punch should be fairly narrow, so you don’t suck your ground up flower into the pumpkin.

Variation 2: Using A Glass Down-Stem

If you’re using the down-stem from your bong, ensuring a tight fit is key. Start with a small hole and slowly widen it until you can just barely squeeze your down-stem into it.

You should have to force the down-stem into the pumpkin flesh. If it’s too loose, you’ll suck air and won’t get a good hit.

With the weed-bearing portion of your pumpkin bong set up, now it’s time to drill the mouthpiece and carb.

Think ergonomically. Hold the pumpkin and figure out where the most comfortable place to put your mouth and to cover a carb would be so that you don’t tip the gourd over and dump your flower.

Generally, you’d put the carb near the bowl or down-stem hole, with the mouthpiece on the other side of the pumpkin, keeping your face free from the flame.

Drill these last two holes deep into the center of the pumpkin. Imagine lines of intersection at about 45 degrees, all meeting in the middle.

Step 3: Test Run!

Before sparking up your spooky pumpkin bong, test the airflow. Suck through the mouthpiece and practice releasing the carb.

You should feel the pressure build up and notice sucking sounds coming from the bowl or down-stem. If not, break out the drill or skewer again and swirl it around the interior of the pumpkin. You probably just have to get some of the guts out of the way.

Finally, check for excess moisture. You can wipe away the water that forms on the rim of the holes you drilled, or wait a bit for them to dry up.

As a last resort, you can line your weed bowl with aluminum foil to prevent the water from soaking your stash. That’s one advantage of using a down-stem if you can.